Determine the Zone Host Name and Obtain the Network Address

You must determine the host name for the zone. Then, you must
assign an IPv4 address or manually configure and assign an IPv6 address for
the zone if you want it to have network connectivity.

Zone Host Name

The host name you select for the zone must be defined either in
the hosts database or in the /etc/inet/hosts database, as specified by the /etc/nsswitch.conf
file in the global zone. The network databases are files that provide network
configuration information. The nsswitch.conf file specifies which naming service to use.

If you use local files for the naming service, the hosts database is
maintained in the /etc/inet/hosts file. The host names for zone network interfaces are
resolved from the local hosts database in /etc/inet/hosts. Alternatively, the IP address itself can
be specified directly when configuring a zone so that no host name
resolution is required.

Shared-IP Zone Network Address

Each shared-IP zone that requires network connectivity has one or more unique IP
addresses. Both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are supported.

IPv4 Zone Network Address

If you are using IPv4, obtain an address and assign the address
to the zone.

A prefix length can also be specified with the IP address. The
format of this prefix is address/prefix-length, for example, 192.168.1.1/24. Thus, the address to use
is 192.168.1.1 and the netmask to use is 255.255.255.0, or the mask where
the first 24 bits are 1-bits.

IPv6 Zone Network Address

If you are using IPv6, you must manually configure the address. Typically, at
least the following two types of addresses must be configured:

Link-local address

A link-local address is of the form fe80::64-bit interface ID/10. The /10 indicates a prefix length of 10 bits.

Address formed from a global prefix configured on the subnet

A global unicast address is based off a 64–bit prefix that the administrator configures for each subnet, and a 64-bit interface ID. The prefix can also be obtained by running the ifconfig command with the -a6 option on any system on the same subnet that has been configured to use IPv6.

The 64–bit interface ID is typically derived from a system's MAC address. For zones use, an alternate address that is unique can be derived from the global zone's IPv4 address as follows:

For example, if the global zone's IPv4 address is 192.168.200.10, a suitable link-local address for a non-global zone using a zone-unique number of 1 is fe80::c0a8:c80a:1/10. If the global prefix in use on that subnet is 2001:0db8:aabb:ccdd/64, a unique global unicast address for the same non-global zone is 2001:0db8:aabb:ccdd::c0a8:c80a:1/64. Note that you must specify a prefix length when configuring an IPv6 address.

For more information about link-local and global unicast addresses, see the inet6(7P) man page.

Exclusive-IP Zone Network Address

Inside an exclusive-IP zone, configure addresses as you do for the global zone.
Note that DHCP and IPv6 stateless address autoconfiguration can be used to configure
addresses.